Cultivator-coupling



(Ho Mbdel.)

. J.'B. PARADIS.

Cultivator Coupling. NO. 239,268. Patented March 22,1881

UNITED STATES JOHN B. PARADIS, OF MOMENGE, ILLINOIS.

CULTlVATOR-COUPLING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Application filed June 25, 1880.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN B. PARADIs, a citizen of the United States,residing at Mo.- mence, in the county of Kankakee and State of Illinois,have invented a new and useful Coupling for Cultivators, of which thefollowin g is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in couplings for cultivators,which, while connecting the beam with the axle of the cultivator, admitof a free vertical and horizontal swinging movement of the beam orbeams; and the objects ofmy improvements are, first, to prevent alateral rocking of the beam, and consequently avoid a wearing upon theunder side of the coupling arm or bar, which wouldround it and graduallyincrease the objectionable rocking movement; second, to permit thelateral adjustment of the beam or beams toward each other withoutdestroying the direct horizontal movement of the coupling-plate orsubjecting it to wear upon its edges. I attain these objects by themechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 isa side elevation of an ordinary cultivator provided with my improvedcoupling; Fig.2, a partly-sectional perspective of my coupling, showingthe relative position of the parts of the coupling to each other and tothe beam and axle of the cultivator; Fig. 3, a modification of thecoupling-bar and of the attachment of the clamping and axle plates; Fig.4, a side elevation of said plates, with the coupling-bar incross-section; Fig. 5, a detail modification of the yokes or staples forsecuring the axle-plate'to the axle.

Similar letters refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

A represents the axle of an ordinary cultivator.

B is arectangular-shaped axle plate or block, having at or near its endsstaples a a, to pivotally secure it to the axle. These staples are madeadjustable to compensate for wear by means oi screw-threaded ends andnuts, as shown in Fig. 4:; butdnstead thereof I may use a flatspring-hook, a, the shank of which forms an extension of theaxle-plate,and its hook a seat for a screwthreaded bolt, 0?, upon said plate, whichbolt passes through the hook and a block of wood, a intermediate thehook and plate, and is provided with a nut, a, upon Patent No. 239,268,dated March 22, 1881.

(No model) its outer end, as shown in the modification in Fig. ,5. Theaxle-plate, when taken with the staples, forms an open frame, adjustablypivoted at its ends.

Resting upon the axle-plate is a flat coup ling-bar, 0, consisting ofstraight arm 0 and curved arm 0, which arms, when taken together, givethe bar in outline the appearance of theletter J as clearly shown inFig. 2 of the drawings. The coupling-bar O is perforated from face toface at the intersection of the arms 0 c, and is pivotally secured tothe axleplate by a U-shaped bolt, D, one arm, d, of which passes througha perforation near the outer end of said plate and through theperforation in the coupling-bar, and the other arm, cl, through aperforation near the center of length of the axle-plate, where it passesthrough a block, E. This block is slightly thicker than thecoupling-bar, and forms a support for a plate, F, between which and theaxle-plate the coupling-bar is loosely held or clamped, so that the barmay move about its pivot, but not rock, its curved arm 0 moving aroundthe block, as indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 2, when the beam G, towhich the straight arm 0 is bolted, is swung around to shift thecultivator-blades.

From the above-described construction it will be seen that while with mycoupling a cultivator may have the requisite vertical and horizontalmovements it cannot be twisted, and consequently strained, by a rockingmove ment of its beam, by reason of the faces of the curved arm near itsouter edge, which are opposite and some distance from the pivot of thecoupling bar, impinging against either the clamping or axle plate. Ifthe coupling-bar had no horizontal movement an arm extendin g at a rightangle from the straight arm 0, between and coinciding with the length ofthe clamping and axle plates, would have the same function. In otherwords, the curved arm operates as the long arm of a lever having theplay of its free end limited, the pivot representing the fulcrum, andthe width of the straight arm 0 the short arm of the lever. As thecomparative length'of the long arm is so much greater than the shortarm, the slight vertical movement which the former may have between theplates will have no perceptible effect upon the short arm, andconsequently not only will a rocking of the beam to which the short armis connected be avoided, but a straining or ben ding of the pit'ot beprevented. Furthermore, the absence of a rocking movement avoids anytendency which the couplingbar would otherwise have to wear rounding oruneven upon its under surface, and thereby aggravate the rocking abovereferred to.

Instead of the curved arm upon the coupling-bar, as shown in Fig. 2,said bar may be made solid, as shown in Fig. 3, and the clampin g plateand block be bolted at the outer end of said plate to the axle-plate,the pivot of the coupling-bar maintaining the same relative position tothe axle-plate as before described 6. 0., toward the outer end of theaxle-plate.

A lateral adjustment of the beam or beams toward or from the center oflength of the cultivator-axle may be made in two ways: first,byproviding the clamping and axle plates with a corresponding series ofperforations, similar to those already indicated, into which the arms 01d of the yoke D may be shifted; and. second, by reversing the positionof the coupling-bar- 6., by turning said bar over, so as to place thecurved arm upon the outside of the pivot 61, which also necessitates theremoval of the block to said pivot, then pivoting the bar upon the pivot61.

Among the advantages derived from couplings such as I have describedare, first, simplicity and durability of parts; second, nonliability ofthe accidental displacement or dewith the axle-plate and the clam ping-plate, of 4 5 a J-shaped coupling-bar, having its straight arm securedto the cultivator-beam and pivot.- ed near one end of the axle-plate,said bar, with its curved extension, moving and guided between the axleand clamping plates, substantially as described and shown.

2. The combination of the coupling-bar O with the aXleplate B, yoke D,block E, and removable clamping-plate F, substantially as described, andfor the purpose set forth.

JOHN B. PARADIS.

Witnesses:

J OHN G. ELLIOTT, S. S. ScHoFF.

